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George Stepney
George Stepney (1663 - 15 September 1707) was an English poet and diplomat. Life Stepney, born at Westminster in 1663, was descended from the Stepneys of Prendergast in Pembrokeshire. He was the son of George Stepney, groom of the chamber to Charles II, and grandson of Sir Thomas Stepney, cupbearer to Charles I, by his wife, Mary, eldest daughter and coheiress of Sir Bernard Whetstone of Woodford, Essex.Barker, 190. The poet was educated at Westminster School, where he was admitted on the foundation at Whitsuntide 1676, and formed his lifelong friendship with Charles Montagu (afterwards Earl of Halifax). After passing the unusual time of 6 years as a king's scholar at Westminster, Stepney was elected a scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, at Whitsuntide 1682. At Cambridge Stepney appears to have acquired a great reputation as a writer of Latin verse, and his ode on the marriage of the Princess Anne to Prince George of Denmark was published in the Hymenæus Cantabrigiensis (Cambridge, 1683, 4to). He earned a B.A. in 1685, and an M.A. in 1689, and on 12 September 1687 was elected a major fellow of his college without passing through the intermediate step of a minor fellowship.Barker, 191. Career Though Stepney wrote some fulsome lines on the death of Charles II, in which he compared James II to Hercules, he joined the winning side at the Revolution, and, with the aid of his friend Montagu, entered upon a successful diplomatic career. He became secretary to Sir Peter Wych at Hamburg, and subsequently to James Johnson at Berlin. Stepney was a member of the Kit-Cat Club. Macky declares that "no Englishman ever understood the affairs of Germany so well, and few Germans better." According to the same authority, Stepney spoke "all the modern languages, as well as antient, perfectly well," was "a thorough statesman," and "of very good, diverting conversation."Secret Services of John Macky, 1733, p. 142). In 1695 he was sent as envoy to the electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, and in 1696–7 to the electors of Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, the elector palatine, the landgrave of Hesse, and the congress at Frankfort. In June 1697 he was appointed a commissioner of trade and plantations, a post which, in spite of his diplomatic work, he retained until his death. In 1698 he was again sent to Brandenburg, and subsequently to Warsaw. In March 1702 he went again as envoy to Vienna. In 1705 a misunderstanding arose between him and Count Wratislaw, the imperial minister, which became so serious that Prince Eugène insisted upon Stepney's recall, and presented a formal complaint from the emperor against Stepney's supposed partiality to the cause of the Hungarian insurgents. The Duke of Marlborough, who placed the fullest confidence in Stepney, succeeded in persuading Eugène to withdraw the demand, though he afterwards "privately engaged to remove Mr. Stepney from the embassy".Coxe, Memoirs of John, Duke of Marlborough, 1818–19, i. 382–3, 498. In May 1706 Stepney was sent to take possession of the lordship of Mindelheim, which had been conferred on Marlborough by the emperor (ib. pp. 529–42). In October following he was transferred from Vienna to The Hague, where he succeeded Stanhope as envoy. He was taken seriously ill "of the bloody flux" in August 1707, and returned to England in the vain hope that the change might benefit him.Luttrell, A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs, 1857, vi. 206). He died unmarried in Paradise Row, Chelsea, on 15 September 1707. Writing Stepney was more successful as a diplomat than as a poet. Though his juvenile compositions are said to have made "grey authors blush" (Works of Samuel Johnson, 1810–11, ix. 293), his poems are few and of little merit. He was "a very licentious translator," and did not, as Johnson remarks, "recompense his neglect of the author by beauties of his own" (ib.) Stepney was also a bright and perspicuous letter-writer. Extensive collections of his correspondence are preserved in the British Museum and in the Public Record Office (see ‘Stepney Collection’ in 42 vols. P.R.O. Archives 48–89). Another large and important collection is in the possession of the Earl of Macclesfield (Hist. MSS. Comm. 1st Rep. p. ix, app. pp. 34–40). Stepney contributed a translation of Ovid's elegy on the death of Tibullus to Dryden's Miscellany Poems (1684), and of the 8th satire of Juvenal to The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis translated into English verse by Mr. Dryden and several other eminent hands (1693). He published: #''An Epistle to Charles Montagu, esq., on his Majesty's Voyage to Holland'', London, 1691, fol. #''A Poem dedicated to the Blessed Memory of her late Gracious Majesty Queen Mary'', London, 1695, fol. #''An Essay upon the Present Interest of England. To which are added the Proceedings of the House of Commons in 1677 upon the French King's Progress in Flanders'' (anon.), London, 1701, 4to; reprinted in the Somers Collection of Tracts, 2nd edition, xi. 195–227. Recognition In November 1697 Stepney was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His portrait, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, was engraved in mezzotint by Faber. Stepney was buried in great state on 22 September 1707 in Westminster Abbey, the pall being carried by 2 dukes, 2 earls, and 2 barons.Luttrell, vi. 215. An elaborate monument, with a long and complimentary epitaph, surmounted by his bust, was subsequently erected to his memory in the south aisle of the Abbey. His poems have been reprinted in Chalmers's English Poets and similar collections. Publications *''An Epistle to Charles Montagu, esq., on his Majesty's Voyage to Holland''. London: Francis Saunders, 1691. *''A Poem dedicated to the Blessed Memory of her late Gracious Majesty Queen Mary'', London: Jacob Tonson, 1695. *''Poems''. London: 1810. Non-fiction *''An Essay upon the Present Interest of England. To which are added the Proceedings of the House of Commons in 1677 upon the French King's Progress in Flanders'' (anonymous). London: John Nutt, 1701; Dublin:J. Brocas, for Rob. Thornton, 1701. Anthologized *''The Works of the Most Celebrated Minor Poets: Volume the second''. London: F. Cogan, 1749. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:George Stepney, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 5, 2019. See also *List of British poets References . Wikisource, Apr. 5, 2019. Notes External links ;Poems *George Stepney at AllPoetry ("A Poem Dedicated To The Blessed Memory Of Her Late Gracious Majesty Queen Mary") ;Books *''George Stepney: Diplomat and poet, 1663-1707'' at Amazon.com ;About *George Stepney at Westminster Abbey Stepney, George Category:1663 births Category:1707 deaths Category:People from Westminster Category:English poets Category:Ambassadors of England to the Holy Roman Empire Category:People educated at Westminster School, London Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Ambassadors of England to Sweden Category:Ambassadors of England to Poland Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey Category:Stepney family Category:17th-century English diplomats Category:18th-century diplomats Category:English male poets Category:17th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets